Vacation

Just returned from a week in Florida on Cape San Blas ~~ what a glorious time we had.  First stop last Friday night was New Orleans, unfortunately our luggage was in Tampa - oh well, off to see the town. (our luggage finally made it Sat around 1:00 .m.) We headed to Bourbon St. for a Hurricane at Pat O'Brien's, dinner at the Old Coffee Pot for Jumbalaya and Gumbo, then on to Frenchmen St for some jazz.  Headed back to Bourbon St. for some live music at the Funky Pirate and saw Big Al (all 375 lbs. of him) sing some blues.  New Orleans is about what I expected, dirtly, rowdy drunks and lots of old, old bars.  Frenchmen St. did have some good jazz and clubs, but very crowded!  We had to listen outside some of the bars as they were so many people jammed in :(
Sat am - off to Cafe du Monde for beignets and cafe au lait - the site has been a coffee stand since early 1860's, such history!  That was awesome!  Still no luggage so we couldn't head to the beach yet, decided to check out some cemetaries, crazy they are above ground and sooo old!  we saw one gravesite that had over 12 family members buried there.
Picked up rental car and back to the hotel to wait for luggage and grab lunch before getting on the road to Florida!
Arrived at Mexico Beach about the same time as the Hanson's so stopped to pick up two kids for the remainder of the drive to the beach house for 7 days with the fam!  Wow, the kids are getting sooo big!

It would take a few pages for me to describe the fun the next six days held for us -- here are some highlights!

Beach, more beach, shelling, jellyfish stings, sting ray, bob fetching, dolphin and jumping fish sightings, bonfire on the beach w/ s'mores, raw oysters, great pizza, lighthouse, more beach, body surfing, more shelling, floating, family trivial pursuit, giggles and tickles, cribbage, steal my pile, fish, pictionary, scallops and fish tacos, early am beach runs, coffee w/ chicory, chocolate pancakes, skim boarding, fishing, catfish stings, sand dollar find, treasure island, rain, lightning, sunsets and sunrises.  But, the best of all the kiddos 24/7!!

We had a wonderful time with the Hanson's and Horel's at Pass View on the Gulf!  Thank you so much for all the memories!